Alabama is home to more than 800 bioscience companies, including 54 medical device companies, with a long list of accolades that accompany them. Birmingham-based Southern Research, for instance, has discovered seven FDA-approved drugs used in cancer treatment and has made important advances in the treatment of AIDS, polio, and mosquito-borne viruses. The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville is a leader in research on the human genome, gathering genomic data for thousands of academic, clinical, and commercial clients nationwide. Underscoring the track record of innovation found in Alabama’s bioscience sector is the fact that organizations in the state received $280 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in 2015.